Size doesn’t matter for crayfish’s one-two crunch

Biological deception may give crustaceans an advantage during a fight

When it comes to male crayfish, not all claws are created equal. In these crustaceans, the left and right claws might be very different sizes — and the larger one isn’t necessarily stronger, researchers report online March 14 in Biology Letters.

This deceptiveness could help crayfish bluff or trick an opponent during a fight, says study coauthor Robbie Wilson, a biologist at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. What’s more, the findings suggest that within a species, “dishonesty occurs in nature more commonly than we expect,” Wilson says.

During a clash, a male crayfish sizes up his opponent when deciding whether to

This article is only available to Science News subscribers. Already a subscriber? Log in now. Or subscribe today for full access.